As our music ministries begin to re-engage, opportunities to share the love of Christ through music outside the church become more available…let’s consider the purpose and merits in taking worship to the next level.

Based on the commandment in Matthew 28:18-20, we are called to marshal all our resources to share Christ with a dying world. We cannot sit in our churches with folded arms and blinders while people around us are going to hell. God has gifted us not only to make music for our corporate worship gatherings but also to sing and play His praise everywhere.

Please allow me to share some basics with you as we contemplate God’s clear call to share His love.

First, worship leaders should be soul winners. We should be praying with waiters and waitresses, explaining the Gospel to our golf buddies, and offering Bible studies for the parents of the kids on our kids’ soccer teams. God has given each of us a mission field and we must be faithful stewards of the Gospel every day, in every way, as we are directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Second, we should encourage and equip the people on our music ministry teams to share their faith. In our church, every year, we choose a different plan for sharing the Gospel and use it among all our music groups. We learn and review this plan in rehearsals, especially prior to mission trips. We role play to be able to share our testimony in 90 seconds and practice sharing the Gospel in groups of two. These regular revisitations of sharing our faith reminds people we must be about the good work all the time.

Third, we need to go! There are many places in your community which will allow a musical group to sing or play a mini concert. Our Worship Choir and Orchestra annually go on a five-prison concert tour, but because we were unable to go in person this year, we are working on producing a Mission Concert DVD which will be sent to an even larger number of prisons in Southeast Texas and South Louisiana. Prior to COVID our groups regularly sang in city parks, addiction treatment facilities, rescue missions, prisons, hospitals, retirement homes, residential special needs facilities, and performed flash mobs in restaurants. Some of these places are now beginning to reopen to guests and provide excellent opportunities to share your music, your message, and your mission.

As we watch our culture continue to drift away from Christ, we should all sense an urgency regarding our responsibility to be on mission for Christ, and whether your music ministry is two singers and a guitar player, or a full choir and orchestra, there are places and ways to share the love of Christ through music.

Pray God will show you both.